Hello everyone! I am here to make a lifestyle change. I am trying to teach myself to count calories, make healthy changes, and incorporate a new outlook on exercising and eating into my life as well as my children's. I have A LOT of weight to lose but am off to a great start. I like to think of it as me being in control of what I am eating. I am able to make different choices throughout the day as long as I stay under the amount of calories that I allocate to myself. I started this journey on January 13. I weighed in at 370 pounds, which is the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I weighed in on January 28 at 361 pounds. My friend and I have set up a challenge for ourselves that we will walk 60 miles on the treadmill in 70 days. Once we reach that goal, we are going to up it to 75 or so in 70 days. It gets easier and easier. It is something we both are just going to make a daily routine. Obesity is something that my extended family has dealt with for many years. I am trying to break the cycle and give my kids a better and healthier future. All my life, I watched the effects of obesity through my dad's struggles. He bounced back and forth between 400 and 700 pounds through 20 years. In 2009, he weighed in at a massive 670 pounds. One morning in late July of 2009, he got out of "bed" (a hospital bed in his living room) to go the the bathroom and collapsed to the floor. My mom could not get him awake. He was 48 years old. An ambulance came and several men and woman had to struggle to lift him outside just to find out that he wouldnt fit into the back of the ambulance. They had to load him into the back of a pickup box to take him to the hospital. When he finally came to, he found out that he had collapsed a lung. He fell into a very deep depression and just wanted to die. After a few weeks in the hospital, doctors refused to release him home and would only release him to a nursing home. He was very angry about this but had no choice. After being in the nursing home for a few weeks and refusing to cooperate with anyone, he finally decided that the only to get out was to do what was being asked of him and to try to lose the weight. By Thanksgiving, my dad had lost 255 pounds. This was without surgery or diet pills. They had him exercising and eating right, something he hadnt done in over 20 years. They released him home and he continued to work out 6-8 hours a day. When I called my dad and found out one day that he was only 20 pounds heavier than I was, I decided then that it was time I do something. I saw myself following in his footsteps and I had to do something. So here I am, trying and succeeding!

wow, what a powerful story! I'm glad to hear that your dad is back on track and getting healthier. As vabeachgirlNYC said, what a wake up call!!! This goes to show that if we don't take control of out weight, it will control us.

Good luck to you! I am starting today myself, weighing in at 311, my HUGE goal is 100 lbs in 6 months. I'm 46 and have a 4 year old son, so that is my motivation. I'm very happy for your father, he must feel like a new man!

Good luck to you! I am starting today myself, weighing in at 311, my HUGE goal is 100 lbs in 6 months. I'm 46 and have a 4 year old son, so that is my motivation. I'm very happy for your father, he must feel like a new man!

Foxy, welcome!

Drop by the 100+ to lose thread in Diet Tips and introduce yourself, if you like--sometimes it's nice to talk to others who are/have been in your situation.

If you get your eating/exercise plan in place, and work it, I'm here to tell you that yes, you CAN get rid of that extra weight. Now, 100 in six months is pretty agrressive, but it can be done.

Great to see you on here. I am new myself. It takes a lot of courage to look at yourself and realize you have to make the changes. You just have to decide that food is NOT going to be the boss of you! Good luck and hope to see you on here in the future.